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Employment Relations Act 2000

Collective bargaining - Collective agreements

51: Ratification of collective agreement

You could also call this:

"Agreeing to a workplace agreement: employees must approve it first"

When you are part of a union, it must follow some rules. You cannot sign a collective agreement or make changes to it unless your fellow employees agree to it. The union must tell the other party about how they will get your approval before they sign anything.

The union has to let the other party know how they plan to get your approval at the start of negotiations. This is so everyone knows what to expect when it comes to agreeing on a collective agreement or making changes to it. You and your fellow employees have to follow this procedure before the union can sign anything.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM59112.

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Part 5Collective bargaining
Collective agreements

51Ratification of collective agreement

  1. A union must not sign a collective agreement or a variation of it unless the agreement or variation has been ratified in accordance with the ratification procedure notified under subsection (2).

  2. At the beginning of bargaining for a collective agreement or a variation of it, a union must notify the other intended party or parties to the collective agreement of the procedure for ratification by the employees to be bound by it that must be complied with before the union may sign the collective agreement or variation of it.